Matt Damon 'was there for' Ben Affleck during personal struggles
Matt Damon has opened up about supporting his longtime friend Ben Affleck through his personal struggles including a battle with alcohol and two divorces, admitting he was "there for all of it".
Matt Damon "was there for" Ben Affleck throughout his personal struggles.
The pair have been friends since childhood and they rose to fame together in the movie industry - winning an Oscar for the Good Will Hunting screenplay which they wrote together - and Matt has now opened up about supporting his pal during his battle with alcohol and two divorces - from Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Lopez - admitting he was "there for all of it".
During a joint appearance on The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM, Affleck talked about "drinking too much" and the host mentioned the actor's two failed marriages before turning to Damon and asking: "Could you go to Ben and say, ‘I’m here to help you?’”
Damon replied: "Oh, yeah, our relationship isn't affected by what people are saying. I was there for all of it."
Affleck then told his pal: "That means a lot to me. That's sort of what a real friend is."
Stern compared the pair's relationship to "a great romance" and Affleck said: "It’s definitely love" and went on to compare it to the plot of Good Will Hunting.
He added: "Especially as a young guy, the really intense love relationships you have with other young men who you’re really loyal to and really close to and who you grew up with, and a lot of times those relationships are lifelong.
"I think as young men at least, we were much more … we understood better how important these pure friendships were, and what they meant to us and how they kind of define your identity as early as high school."
Damon also spoke about finding fame together with his friend, adding: "We hit the lottery. We hit it together ... Your evolution gets kind of stunted at the moment you become famous because the world treats you differently.
"'I think we were lucky in that we were 25 and 27, so we had a handful of years under our belt where we would walk into a room and not turn any heads.."
Affleck then joked: "That's kind of why we're as sane as we are - to what degree, you may be the judge! But getting famous and successful kind of together, [we had] somebody to turn to and go: 'Is this f***** nuts, or what?' Or to say: 'What are you doing, man?'"
